Chapter 14. It's time for him to prove his worth. ...
When he followed Ji Le into the inner hall, he found that the situation was even worse than he had expected.
Jiang Chenyu was still half-lying on the chaise longue, but she no longer had her usual lazy and comfortable posture. She lay on her back, breathing heavily, her arms hanging limply at her sides.
That delicate, snow-white face was now completely devoid of color, as if all life had been drained from it. If it weren't for the fact that her light-colored pupils were still slowly moving, one would almost think that she was already lifeless.
Suddenly her body jerked violently, she turned sharply to the side, and vomited a mouthful of blood.
The pool of blood vomited on the floor tiles had a faint black tinge.
Her skin was already so white it was almost translucent, but now, with all the color drained from it, it appeared deathly pale, which, combined with the bloodstains remaining on her lips, was quite a shocking sight.
With just one glance, Xiao Che experienced the feeling of his soul being annihilated.
He staggered to Jiang Chenyu's side, finally collapsing to his knees with a thud. His eyes instantly reddened, and he choked out, "Mother, why... what happened..."
Jiang Chenyu, barely holding on, gripped his hand tightly and looked at him, saying, "Che'er, my good child, your mother has finally waited for you... You must remember every word I'm about to say..."
Her beautiful face gradually contorted, and her usually clear and cool eyes now surged with an unusually intense emotion. He clearly saw the overwhelming hatred within them, and each word she uttered was heart-wrenching: "It was the Empress and her two sons who killed me. You must avenge me, remember that..."
Although they were talking about the Empress and the others, the intense and deep-seated hatred in their eyes seemed to be looking at something else through them.
Xiao Che had not yet recovered from his grief and could only ask blankly, "The Empress... and her two sons?"
“Yes…” she said with difficulty, “Do you still remember that painting with the strange fragrance of ink… Liu Songnian’s forgery… bestowed by the Empress… This morning, Xiao Yan said he was ordered by the Empress to retrieve the painting… He said he accidentally discovered that the painting he was given to me was not the original, and felt greatly ashamed, so he quickly retrieved it… He also bestowed some other jewelry and ornaments upon me… He said he sent Xiao Yan to show his respect…”
"After taking the painting away... not long after, Xiao Jue also came... saying that he had heard that I had been feeling unwell and weak lately, and since Goryeo had just presented me with the finest ginseng, he had specially ordered the imperial kitchen to prepare a ginseng soup on the Empress's orders and personally brought it to me... as an apology..."
"Ha, she really went to great lengths... to take my life, she went to such lengths... even sending her two sons..."
Xiao Che choked up and said, "Mother Consort, do you mean that there's something wrong with that painting and that ginseng soup? But I had the Imperial Physician examine the painting before. Apart from the strange ink fragrance, there was nothing else special about it. That fragrance is not harmful to the body... As for that ginseng soup, how dare Empress Cui be so blatant... and even risk the Crown Prince for it? Aren't they the ones who care most about the position of Crown Prince?"
Ji Le, who was standing nearby, sobbed softly, "Your Highness, Her Majesty was poisoned after drinking the ginseng soup sent by the Crown Prince, but when I tested the remaining ginseng soup with a silver needle, there was no poison..."
Jiang Chenyu chuckled: "The ginseng soup is naturally not poisonous... The head of the Imperial Kitchen was promoted by His Majesty himself, so no matter what Empress Cui does, she can't reach there... Besides, she wouldn't be so stupid as to openly give me poisoned ginseng soup, leaving herself a handle to use against me..."
Xiao Che seemed to suddenly realize something and abruptly raised his head: "Mother, neither of these things is poisonous, yet both have problems, don't they?"
“Something must have been added to the ginseng soup. It’s useless on its own, but when combined with the strange fragrance emanating from the ink on the fake landscape painting, it will cause poisoning. That’s why the Empress had Xiao Yan take away that fake painting, so as not to leave any evidence. Mother, is that it… You must know everything… Tell me… I beg you to tell me…”
His voice trembled with tears, and he clenched his fists tightly, saying each word with hatred, "Is this how they harmed you!"
Jiang Chenyu looked at him, and slowly smiled: "My Che'er is indeed very clever..."
She reached out and touched his face. His features were so similar to her own, making her feel a momentary daze: "He truly is my child, truly a descendant of our Lanling clan..."
"Che'er, the palace regards us as an omen of misfortune, simply because we are not of their kind, so we are slandered everywhere. But your mother wants to tell you that we Lanling people are not as bad as they say..."
"On the contrary, we are naturally superior to them. Whether it is horsemanship, archery, martial arts, courage, strategy, or even this physical body, we can use it to achieve our desired goals. I really can't think of any shortcomings in our people. It is precisely because we can't find any flaws that they would accuse us of such an ethereal curse... Ha, how vicious the Wei people are..."
“That’s right, I knew all along how the Empress used that fake painting to frame me… The strange fragrance on the ink is called ‘Hundred Wash Fragrance.’ It’s named so because its fragrance is so long-lasting that it remains unchanged even after being washed a hundred times…”
"Bai Zhuo Xiang is an extremely precious and rare fragrance, one that even the royal family might not have seen before. It seems that Empress Cui must have obtained this fragrance by chance, and after understanding its medicinal properties, she planned to use it on me..."
"This incense has a calming effect, but if taken in excess, it will make a person drowsy all day and lethargic. It won't kill a person in a short time... However, one must not drink ginseng soup while using this incense. Both are not poisonous on their own, but when used together, they are extremely toxic. It can kill a person in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn..."
"She thought this incense was uncommon and I wouldn't recognize it, and even the imperial physicians couldn't identify it. But I had seen it before, and I used to use it often because I liked its scent..."
Xiao Che's hand, which was resting on her shoulder, curled up slightly.
“I was right. After your coming-of-age ceremony, His Majesty will still keep you in the palace, and the ceremony will be no less grand than the Crown Prince's… She is still worried, afraid that His Majesty's favor towards us mother and son might be too great, and that one day it might threaten his son's position. Once I die, you will also fall out of favor, and then she can rest easy…”
"So she couldn't sit still any longer. The coming-of-age ceremony had barely ended when she hurriedly had the Crown Prince send over ginseng soup. This supposedly nourishing and invigorating ginseng soup was nothing but a deadly poison... The current Empress's decree was delivered by the Crown Prince himself, how could I refuse to drink it..."
Xiao Che stared at her in disbelief, his voice trembling as he spoke, "Mother, since you knew, you clearly knew... why..."
Towards the end, he could barely speak, his eyes filled with extreme sorrow.
Jiang Chenyu knew what he wanted to ask, and gave a weak, light laugh: "Silly child, how long ago was the last time your mother used Bai Zhuo Xiang? You weren't even born then. So many years have passed, it's understandable that I might not remember its properties..."
"It wasn't until I drank that bowl of ginseng soup and my stomach ached unbearably... and Ji Le tested it with silver needles and found it to be non-toxic, that I remembered... Besides, it was the Empress's decree, and the Crown Prince was to go in person, so how could I disobey..."
Jiang Chenyu couldn't help but cough because she had talked too much. She covered her mouth with a silk handkerchief, and when she removed it, it was covered in blood. She just smiled weakly: "It's alright, finally free... I should have died long ago, just a widow... I should have died on the day Qi Kingdom fell... I've lingered on for so many years, just because my wish was not fulfilled, and my breath was not yet gone..."
Xiao Che was stunned: "Mother, what...what did you say...Qi Kingdom?"
Although I had my suspicions, it came when she mentioned that she had used Bai Zhuo Xiang before.
The fragrance of Bai Zhuo Xiang is extremely rare and precious, even the royal family might not have been able to use it. How could an ordinary person from Lanling have used it, let alone used it frequently? And it just so happens that it was before he was even born...
There is only one possibility: she was a princess of the previous dynasty. At that time, the previous dynasty had not yet fallen, and she was still a princess, so she naturally had the opportunity to come into contact with Bai Zhuoxiang.
It's one thing to speculate, but quite another to hear Jiang Chenyu admit it with his own ears.
He still couldn't believe that his mother was really a member of the previous dynasty's royal family. Wouldn't that mean he also had the blood of the previous dynasty flowing in his veins?
It turns out that the harsh words those people spoke to him were not slander; he really was a remnant of the previous dynasty.
He couldn't accept it for a while.
Jiang Chenyu looked at him: "Yes, for so many years, there have been rumors that I am a member of the royal family of the former Qi Kingdom. Mother Consort, let me tell you, that's not a rumor. I am indeed a princess of the former Qi Kingdom, the most beloved third princess of the former Qi Kingdom emperor. My title is the name of the kingdom. I was born noble, and I am definitely not some remnant of the former dynasty..."
"Most of the remaining Lanling people today are from the former royal family. It's a pity that almost all of them have been slaughtered. There are very few Lanling people left in this world..."
The intense hatred gradually resurfaced on her face. This time, Xiao Che saw it clearly: it wasn't just hatred for the Empress and her two sons, but hatred for the entire Wei clan: "I hate them, I hate them..."
Xiao Che's heart skipped a beat, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "Mother, do you...do you love Father?"
Jiang Chenyu paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world. Her light-colored eyes suddenly brightened, flashing with a strange light: "Love? Hahaha... He concealed his identity, deliberately approached me, and used me to wipe out my clan. Che'er, you actually ask me if I love him?"
"I wish I could tear him to pieces and scatter his bones to ashes to comfort the spirits of my people in heaven!"
Xiao Che's eyelashes trembled, unwilling to believe it: "But you..."
"But what about me? Why would I be willing to stay by his side and bear his children?"
"Heh, it's just that my wish hasn't been fulfilled, so I've been enduring humiliation and living in a subservient manner..." She raised her eyes, staring intently at Xiao Che, her gaze filled with a multitude of complex emotions. In the end, she suppressed the last trace of reluctance and said firmly, "Che'er, your mother's lifelong wish rests entirely on your shoulders..."
"I?"
“Yes, my Che’er…” She stroked Xiao Che’s face, looking at him as if she were admiring a masterpiece.
From the moment she found out she was pregnant with him, she began to hatch a crazy plan in her heart.
She prayed that he was a boy, so that she would have the opportunity to use him to take revenge on Emperor Wei Yuan and the entire Wei clan.
Even before he was born, she was planning how to mold him into the most useful and sharpest dagger, to help her gradually carve out the map of the Wei clan's empire.
If it is allowed to fall apart, the country will cease to exist.
Now, the sword is ready to be drawn. This dagger, which took eighteen years to craft, is even more satisfying than she had imagined. All she has to do now is help it be tempered one last time.
In the Wei Dynasty, male members of the royal family were to be capped at the age of eighteen. In the blink of an eye, eighteen years had passed, and Xiao Che had grown up completely.
It's time for him to realize his value.
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